Can Cannabis Help With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
There is no known, underlying medical cause for the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue, which include inexplicable exhaustion that doesn’t improve with increased rest and sleep.
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Like many other hip-hop artists and celebrities, the Wu-Tang Clan’s Raekwon has become a major investor in a cannabis startup. But unlike other celebrity-endorsed cannabis companies, this startup wants to pay people to grow weed, rather than just selling it to them.
CitizenGrown follows through on its motto of “cannabis for the people, by the people” by putting cultivation in the hands of individuals. The business eventually plans to provide automated hydroponic grow boxes to anyone living in a state where home cultivation is legal. The company will pay people for the use of their space, and will control nearly every aspect of the grow boxes remotely, allowing them to grow pot at home with little effort.
“It’s like a universal income proposal,” Raekwon told Forbes. Since most of the work is handled by the company itself, the company is essentially offering a source of passive income to anyone who has the space to host one of their boxes. The company hopes that these tools will help lower-income communities participate in the cannabis marketplace, which is currently dominated by wealthy, white investors.
“We wondered: What if our technology is the way to spread the wealth in this industry?” said CitizenGrown CEO Deepa Sood to Forbes. “Use our Boxes, cultivate top-shelf cannabis, and marry profit with purpose.”
“In this situation where the economy is being tarnished and people are losing jobs, CitizenGrown offers a way out,” said Raekwon. “We tell people we haven’t forgotten about them… Now, you’ve got the average person that really didn’t think they could do something feeling like they can engage, because there’s a door for them. And that’s what I love, you know; to give back is the most precious gift.”
The company has already kicked off their first venture, a 13,500 square foot cannabis cultivation and tissue culture lab based in Oklahoma City. The profits of this facility are being used to develop prototypes for automated, hydroponic grow boxes that are designed to work even in a small apartment. CitizenGrown is also offering educational opportunities to help individuals living in lower-income, marginalized communities.
“This is pretty much a school that allows us to help people, to teach them what cannabis is all about, and make sure that at the end of the day you’re in charge of what you put in you, and you understand what you’re using it for,” Raekwon explained to Forbes.
“Any time you come back to the neighborhood and you want to do great things for your community… Whatever you want to do, however you want to express yourself, we’ll empower you, creatively and financially. That’s what CitizenGrown represents.”
3 Main Differences Between CBD Oil And Hemp Oil
Both compounds are derivatives of cannabis, but CBD and hemp are not the same. Here’s how to differentiate the two.
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With Michigan’s combined medical and marijuana businesses expected to hit $1.5 billion in sales over the next year, one Native American tribe says it’s setting up some competition for those cannabis dollars.
Bay Mills Indian Community (BMIC) announced plans this week to create a tribal marijuana market that will operate outside state regulation, starting as soon as January 2021. BMIC consists of about 2,200 members of the Ojibwe tribe located in Brimley, Michigan, where the organization also owns and operates the Bay Mill Resorts and Casinos. Now, it’s time to add weed to the tribe’s portfolio.
BMIC Board Chair Bryan T. Newland said the marijuana project’s first step will be to construct a 10,000-plant indoor growth facility, which will supply cannabis outlets near the casino, as well as on tribal properties located just outside the cities of Flint, Gaylord, and Port Huron.
The intention from there, Newland said, is to cultivate this project into a cooperative shared by all of Michigan’s twelve tribes. BMIC aims to stock pot shops located on participating tribal lands, Newland added, “so we can share the burden of doing this and the benefits can flow to different tribal communities.”
Michigan presently adds a 16 percent tax on recreational weed. Since Native American lands don’t fall under the jurisdiction of state law, tribal weed could be sold tax-free. That’s quite the motivation for cannabis consumers to take that extra ride out to Native facilities when it’s time to re-up on weed.
The tribal groups tried to cut Michigan in on the action. Newland said Native American reps contacted the Marijuana Regulatory Agency (MRA) in 2019 to talk about setting up a deal, but the agency brushed them off. Even following this latest announcement, the MRA declined to comment. So really, then — why bother and why wait?
“Look, we’re sovereign governments,” Newland said. “We’re not giving up our right and our authority to regulate what goes on on our lands and we’re certainly not going to pay the state of Michigan taxes for what we do on our lands. Governments don’t tax other governments and they don’t ask other governments for permission.”
Tribes also don’t have to worry about state licensing, application, and renewal fees, Newland said. Setting up a BMIC-sized grow operation in Michigan-proper would require shelling out $206,000 in state fees before even breaking ground. Such is not the case on tribal lands.
After Michigan legalized marijuana in 2018, BMIC officially followed suit the following year. Newland said the tribe will create its own regulatory system on par with the state’s measures for monitoring safety, costs, and quality assurance. “On quality and price,” Newland said, “we’ll be competitive with anybody else in the state.”
Noting again that BMIC owns land throughout all of Michigan, Newman said, “It’s our intention to grow this business, grow this venture, and bring it statewide.”
If you broke your ankle and your doctor offered you 30 Vicodin or a single medicated CBD cream for pain relief, which would you choose? If you answered “CBD”, then you’re just like thousands of professional athletes in the world. But unfortunately for those athletes, due to the illegality of cannabis in most countries and the harsh penalties imposed by professional sports leagues, the only option is opioids or nothing. That is, unless you’re Elias Theodorou.
Elias Theodorou is a Canadian MMA fighter best known for winning The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia, an MMA-theme reality show he describes as, “Big Brother, but with punches and kicks.” He has also competed in the UFC Middleweight Division.
Nicknamed The Spartan, Theodorou currently holds a 17-3 record — which means he’ll probably whoop your ass if you don’t wear a mask.
Past fighting, Theodorou is also the first, and only, professional athlete in the entire history of professional sports to be granted a Therapeutic Use Exemption for medical cannabis by a governing body (the British Columbia Athletic Commission). This means that, because Theodorou is a citizen of Canada, where cannabis has been recreationally legal since 2018, he can’t be barred from using the plant as medicine.
Of his journey, he said, “In Canada, because healthcare is a fundamental right, there’s avenues to argue on that fact. We were able to present a case to the Athletic Commission in British Columbia and they approved my Therapeutic Use Exemption. What makes this a really important cog in the wheel of medical cannabis rights is that because it’s the athletic commission, that’s a governing body, so this is another component of cannabis being considered a medicine, and most importantly, it’s the first time in professional sports.”
A huge medical cannabis advocate, Theodorou first saw the plant’s benefits through the eyes of his former MMA coach and friend, Lachlan Cheng. During Ultimate Fighter, they spent time training in Thailand, where cannabis is illegal for foreigners. His coach was a medical cannabis patient; however, without access to that medicine, he had to turn to painkillers. Seeing the negative effects opioids can have on the human body, Theodorou, who suffers from lateral neuropathy (nerve damage in his upper extremities), knew there had to be a healthier choice.
“I already saw the pitfalls of first-line medicine, and I thought that cannabis might be a healthier alternative. I reached out to my family doctor and he essentially helped me through the process of getting medical cannabis. I’ve been a medical cannabis patient for the better part of 5 years at this point,” he told Weedmaps.
With cannabis being such a huge part of his everyday life, it’s only right that in discussing his fight for medical cannabis rights, we also asked him about some of his favorite cannabis products. Here are a few of the things Theodorou can’t live without.
Elias is all about a scheduled out regimen dependent on how his body feels. Most of the time, that regimen includes high CBD tinctures. “Usually when I wake up, it’s more CBD and tincture-oriented. I tend to do a 1:1 tincture in the morning, depending on how my body feels. At the end [of the day], I tend to do a little bit heavier CBD.”
For those that don’t know, tinctures are a liquid form of cannabis oil that can be consumed sublingually, or applied to virtually any edible, including drinks. They tend to be great for medical patients, those who want to manage dosage, and anyone looking for a light experience that allows them to ease into their relationship with cannabis. Many tinctures come as CBD-dominant or with a 1:1 THC:CBD ratio.
“After my training session, I tend to vaporize for the most part. As an athlete, and also if I am going to advocate for the properties of medical cannabis, I think taking away the combustion component is a much healthier component.”
Vaporizers are the little pens you see people hitting on the go. The cartridges are made up of cannabis hash oil that can come from a variety of strains. You can get them in all forms, including THC-dominant, a balanced 1:1, and CBD-dominant. As cannabis evolves, you’re even starting to see CBG and CBN vape pens hit the market. With the immense popularity of these products, you’ll see a flood of unregulated vapes on the street, so remember to only purchase from reputable companies that can provide a certificate of analysis.
Topicals are the bees knees when it comes to rubbing cannabis into your skin. This especially applies to athletes and anyone else who uses cannabis to manage pain, arthritis, and other joint inflammation. Theodorou likes to ingest cannabis, but when it comes to topicals, he told me, “I’m trying to get as many cannabinoids on that knee area. I fight inflammation and pain when I ingest [cannabis], but on a topical sense, [I apply it] more directly on the area itself.” He specifically likes THCA topicals.
THCA is a cannabis compound that becomes THC after being combusted. THC is the active compound in cannabis that we associate with getting high. However, without the combustion, THCA doesn’t provide the high, but still has the benefits.
“During the day, I tend to use sativa. After training sessions, I medicate with indica. At night, I sometimes use indica, but it is still heavy with the CBD flower.”
Two strains that Theodorou specifically called out are Chocolope and Dr. Who. Chocolope is a sativa cross of Chocolate Thai and Cannalope Haze that many people love in the morning for its uplifting and energizing qualities. Dr. Who is an indica-dominant hybrid cross of Mad Scientist and Timewreck. It’s championed for being a relaxing strain that doesn’t necessarily sedate you, so many people love it at any time of day.
Lastly, Theodoru can’t live without CBD flower. As part of his nighttime regiment, he likes to consume CBD strains, though he doesn’t have a specific favorite. Most strains are THC-dominant or balanced, because that’s what the market demands. But there are still CBD strains out there like ACDC, Harlequin, and Sour Tsunami.
Featured graphic by David Lozada/Weedmaps
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Will California Ever ‘Legalize’ CBD?
The bulk of the issues that the state faces today go back more than two years and amazingly, still have not been solved.
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5 Ways Medical Marijuana Can Help You Deal With Chronic Pain
Pain management is the most common reason doctor’s are prescribing medical marijuana.
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5 Coronavirus Testing Myths You Should Know
Coronavirus testing has increased recently. Still, there’s a lot of misinformation that continues to be spread.
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Ready to vote this November? If not, check out 6 strains that will help you make it through election season.
The post 6 strains that will prepare you to vote in November appeared first on Leafly.
The gift of sight comes more easily with a little help from the plant kingdom. Here are just some notable women from the past who harnessed the powers of cannabis for a higher calling.
The post 4 women in history who used cannabis for mysticism appeared first on Leafly.